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The aim today was to visit Ishanya mall for the “bizarre bazaar” event that was advertised in the local paper. I was uncertain of what to expect – part of my mind expected to see a market that Aladdin would attend (yes, yes, I’m in both the wrong country and the wrong era), and yet I also expected a very average mall without enough space for such a market.

In actual fact, I was wrong on both counts, and left both under- and over- whelmed in many ways. Before I get into specifics though, let me just say Ishanya Mall will, one day, be super amazing.

To begin with, the mall is massive. It has extreme amounts of both indoor and outdoor space. It includes an outdoor auditorium, a complex mix of intriguing architectures, a slanted art gallery, many statues/art installments including a massive raven that is absolutely breathtaking up-close, a “food street”, large and small shops, and very many water features. I was delighted to find that in the hot outdoor area, tiny water sprays were set up for a brilliantly cooling effect.

The only downside is that the mall is sadly still under construction, and so there are very few vendors present, though each with an already large reputation, such as FabIndia. In addition to this, the bazaar set up featured temporary stalls for additional sellers and an outdoor market-style “food court”. My assumption is that the now-weekly bazaar (shameless plug, I know) has been set up so that shoppers are inclined to come even though a lot of the space is still in construction. There weren’t many stalls (hence my earlier sense of being underwhelmed), then again it was only the first of many bazaar weekends, so we can hope it will improve.

And finally, even though my rickshaw drivers were both massively disoriented (luckily, I know my way around now and could guide them), Ishanya Mall is very easy to get to, as it’s close to the airport and is situated between two major roads. I can’t wait to watch it delevop into a major shopping hub over the next few months.